Improving Vision - Changing Eyes

Improving Vision - Changing Eyes, Blurred vision - unfocused, high contrast, Looking at the light

Newborn eyes are facinating. From the change in their ability to see, to the change in the actual look of their eyes.

I don’t know if you have ever had the chance to look into a newborns eyes, but they remind me of looking into space. They are deep and rich, open with all the potential that something undefined can offer. The beautiful thing is that as the newborn gets older those eyes start taking shape and definition, but they keep changing every month, week and even day. I was once told nine months, nine faces. How true that has seemed, but even more so. Mary Anne and I are applying for his passport, which asks us what colour his eyes are. At this point, I truly can’t tell you. They go back and forth between green (like mine) and blue, but they could end up being brown (like his moms). The most recent change in his eyes has gone from a continuous interest, shock and joy, to a curiousity that says can I reach, touch, and use this thing I look at.

We have also seen Matteo’s ability to see change drastically. At first he could only really lock onto light and did he ever love stairing at the light (though we didn’t love that). Then it was high contrast, black and white. Then it was movement. Now he can see most things at a short distance and loves looking at faces and his dog Layla.

I think this brings out a few interesting ideas from the gospel. The first is that we like potential. There is something wonderful, beautiful and awe inspiring about the sheer grandeur of it, but definition and particularity are just as important if not more so. We are each made particular and become more and more individual every day. This limits our potential, but it also increases it. We become stronger in one area, but lose something in the meantime. Matteo gaining his eye colour and vision is in no way a bad thing, this interest, exploration and ability to see all are part of his character and growth. His character could have been any number of things, but now Matteo is growing in one area. This is first a message of understanding how God made us and what he has brought us into. We are particular and special, with particular gifts, experiences and purposes. This might come at the loss of something, but it comes, if we can see it, with a greater gain. Secondly, this is a message to our faith. When we commit ourselves to God, we are given a new life, new eyes. We do have give up some things, become more particular in other things, but these all come with greater potential that we can really grow into.

The last message is all about increased sight and blindness. Many of us are blind to seeing God. Or we don’t really recognize him or his truth in the world. It is as if we see in a fog, or a cloudy window. At first, the only thing we can see and focus on is his light. The clearest and most obvious source of his goodness and love. This will help us to understand the truest and greatest aspects of God’s character. But we cannot just stay here. We need to see the other aspects or even his light can blind us to everything else. I have seen Christians get stuck here, saying there is only hope, love and forgiveness. This is very surface level and feels very unrealistic and untrue as time goes on.

We need to see the aspects of greatest contrast next. Seeing in black and white as it were. What are the greatest signs of goodness? What are the greatest signs of evil? Where does goodness end and evil begin? This is where we first start to really define things. Again, we cannot stay here, because this can lead to a Pharisaic approach of being overly judgmental or legalistic. Or of defining all things but undefined and unhelpful mercy, saying things like: “Well, I’ve never really hurt anyone”, “I did the best I could”, “that was the only choice left to me” and more. Though these all may feel very true to that moment of vision, they are not. None of us have to stay in this, it is our choice and many people do choose to stay at this level of vision, in faith and life.

There are probably things babies see after this, like red I know is early and then followed by the other colours. This is depth for our faithfulness and understanding. Seeing the hues and tones help us to understand and create specificness to every situation and object. This is what it means to have God’s law written on our hearts. In scripture we are given specific situations and the laws, rules and right judgments that result. We are then charged to bring the heart and reason of that goodness, judgment and mercy into our specific situations.

Movement and tracking was a very early development and interest of Matteos. He loves watching Layla or people dance. He has always loved music (he even danced in his mother’s womb during Singing in the Rain), but we first saw him trying to dance when he caught a glimpse of Westside Story. This movement is an important development for our vision too. Situations change what was a right judgment or understanding only moments earlier is no longer the case. Many faults have resulted from an action taken or a judgment made prematurely or without all the evidence. Even more importantly, we need to watch for the movement of the Holy Spirit. How is God moving in our midst? Where is he leading you? What people are he bringing around you? What opportunities? What situations? Pray over what you see to discern where he is in it. God directs you in so many ways and he has a purpose for you and everything around you. He is working to accomplish it. We are meant to see it and join.

Lastly, we participate in what we see. This is the most recent thing I see in Matteo’s eyes. He still doesn’t know how to interact. He can barely understand where he is moving his hands or how to grasp onto something. His muscles still need a lot of development, his hand eye coordination and he is still just sensorally experiencing the world for the first time, yet he is already wanting and needing to interact, see how things work, understand how he can change and effect things. All of the above vision will keep improving and growing, but even while our capacity increases, we are already meant to see how we can join with God in his work and goodness. We will get things wrong, we aren’t as capable as we need to be, but God is (like a good parent). When we continuously apologize, trust and follow him, we can live out his goodness even while we are still learning, growing and beginning to see it.

I am sure that the clarity, distance and closeness of infants vision improves through time, which would just reinforce and improve any of the specificity and ideas I presented above.